Console

A vertical decorative bracket in the form of a scroll, projecting from a wall to support a cornice, window, or a piece of sculpture.

console

[′kän‚sōl]

(computer science)

The section of a computer that is used to control the machine manually, correct errors, manually revise the contents of storage, and provide communication in other ways between the operator or service engineer and the central processing unit. Also known as master console.

A display terminal together with its keyboard.

(engineering)

A main control desk for electronic equipment, as at a radar station, radio or television station, or airport control tower. Also known as control desk.

A large cabinet for a radio or television receiver, standing on the floor rather than on a table.

A grouping of controls, indicators, and similar items contained in a specially designed model cabinet for floor mounting; constitutes an operator's permanent working position.

console

console, 1

1. A decorative bracket in the form of a vertical scroll, projecting from a wall to support a cornice, a door or window head, a piece of sculpture, etc.; an ancon.

2. The cabinet from which an organ is played, including the keyboards, pedals, stops, etc.

3. A panel control desk or cabinet containing dials, meters, switches, and other apparatus for controlling mechanical, hydro-mechanical, or electrical equipment.

console

i. That portion of aircraft cockpit in which many of the operating controls are located. The control console is normally in the form of a pedestal, which extends out from the instrument panel between the pilot's and the co-pilot's seats.ii. In radar, this refers to radarscope as in a controller's console.iii. A control station for any major device or system. Normally, such a console is for the seated.iv. A control station as in the instructor's console in a simulator.

console

(1)

The operator's station of a mainframe. In times past,
this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to
anyone with fingers on its keys. Under Unix and other
modern time-sharing operating systems, such privileges are
guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the
tty the system was booted from. Some of the mystique
remains, however, and it is traditional for sysadmins to
post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix,
/dev/console).

console

(2)

On microcomputerUnix boxes, the main screen and
keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a
serial port). Typically only the console can do real
graphics or run X. See also CTY.

Up until the late 1970s, computers were designed with panels of blinking lights, which added to their aura of science fiction. The designs gave each computer a personality that is lacking in many of today's machines. (Top image courtesy of The Computer Museum History Center. Bottom image courtesy of Unisys Corporation.)

Consoles that Were Consoles!

Up until the late 1970s, computers were designed with panels of blinking lights, which added to their aura of science fiction. The designs gave each computer a personality that is lacking in many of today's machines. (Top image courtesy of The Computer Museum History Center. Bottom image courtesy of Unisys Corporation.)

Go Back a Few Decades

In 1951, the UNIVAC I had a very impressive console. Check out the typewriter output (right) and the oscilloscope (left). (Image courtesy of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania.)

Thus, the background of the title miniature, in the right foreground of which a man consolingly embraces a sadly bowed woman, is filled by a river lined by medieval-looking buildings on either side, which are reminiscent of those in Burne-Jones's Mill of 1870-82 (Victoria and Albert Museum) and Le chant d'amour of 1868-73 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

A surprising physical tenderness toward the dead Savior, who is gently enclosed and touched consolingly by his mother and weeping followers, pervades the painting, and such nuanced gestures as one of the Marys caressing Christ's head at the point where it was crowned by thorns, reiterate the notion of sorrow grounded in loss.

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